Talk Over US-Iran Negotiations Abounds

In comments to Fox News journalist Jacqui Heinrich on Jan. 31, U.S. President Trump claimed that the United States still plans to negotiate with Iran. “Well, we can’t tell them the plan. If I told them the plan, it would be almost as bad as telling you the plan—it could be worse, actually. But look, the plan is that Iran is) talking to us, and we’ll see if we can do something, otherwise we’ll see what happens.” Asked about the concerns from Gulf Allies about a lack of a plan for a deal, Trump replied: “Well, that’s true, but they are negotiating, so we’ll see what happens. You know, the last time they negotiated, we had to take out their nuclear, didn’t work, you know. Then we took it out a different way, and we’ll see what happens.”

Trump repeated the same thing aboard Air Force One Saturday evening on his way to Florida. “They are talking to us, seriously talking to us,” he told reporters.

From the Iranian side, Ali Larijani [tweeted on Jan. 31 that talks over the country’s nuclear program are taking shape, despite heightened threats of military confrontation. “Despite the artificial media hype around war, a structural framework for negotiations is currently moving ahead.”

Connected with the reports about negotiations, Larijani on Jan. 30 met with Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, Qatari Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs in Tehran. This was one day after Larijani was in Moscow meeting with Russian President Putin. Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian also spoke with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi on Jan. 31 to discuss the crisis. Both Al Thani and al-Sisi expressed the importance of diplomacy and reducing tensions across the region.

Both Egypt and Qatar, along with Türkiye, are all trying to organize a meeting between U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff and senior Iranian officials in the coming days, reported Axios on Feb. 1. “It is moving. We are doing our best,” an official from one of the countries told Axios. A U.S. official also reportedly confirmed to Axios that a meeting between Iranian and U.S. officials is possible this week.

Similarly, Axios cites a senior U.S. official claiming that the Trump administration has communicated to Iran through multiple channels that it is open to meeting and negotiating a deal.